Press Releases
June 04, 2009
For Immediate Release
Matt DeMargel
(919) 687-6516
TWEETING NO LONGER JUST FOR THE BIRDS
"+@#" and *#@+;! just got called up to the bigs," read a May 21 "tweet" on the Durham Bulls Twitter feed.
When Durham Bulls General Manager Mike Birling posted the coded message a day before Reid Brignac and Dale Thayer were promoted to the Tampa Bay Rays, he never knew it would have the impact that it did.
"The St. Petersburg Times took the actual tweet with the code and put it on their site," Birling said. "It caused a lot of controversy because the names hadn't been released yet. I don't think I'll be doing that again."
Twitter is a free social networking site that has become increasingly popular in the last few months. The site allows people or organizations to post short updates that their "followers" can see.
"We aren't afraid to try different things," Birling said. "You can't turn on a TV channel these days without people promoting it."
While some teams are using new social networking sites as ways to market the team, Birling said the Bulls have been using the new technologies as a way to communicate with the fans.
"Most of our followers kind of use it as being able to follow the Bulls more," Birling said. "Instead of just hopping online to see if the Bulls won, I'll try and let them know who is doing well and other things like that."
For example, a May 17 tweet gave followers a real-time update of David Price's hot start in a game versus the Rochester Red Wings: "Price is dealing. No hits allowed and four strikeouts thru three innings. This is the best he has looked all season."
Nick Carey, a UNC Chapel-Hill student, and one of the more than 500 followers of the Bulls' Twitter feed, said the updates keep him updated on what is going on with the team when he can't make it to a game.
"There's so many games and I can't go to all of them," Carey said. "I like to be able to keep up with how they're doing, especially my favorite player Ray Sadler," Carey said. "I could just go look at the box score after the game, but it's cool getting real-time updates with more information than just the score."
The Bulls have used Twitter for some unique marketing ideas though. A May 15 post read "Going to try this once. First 100 to call 919-956-2855 and say 'twitter' will receive up to four tickets for tonight's game for $1 per ticket."
About 45 followers called within an hour and got tickets for $1, Birling said.
Although Birling said he would not be releasing any more coded messages of privileged information, he does want to give followers a look into how the team works behind the scenes.
"I want to give people a different look at what's going on with the team or the front office," Birling said. "The more inside information we can give people, the better."
Follow the Durham Bulls on Twitter.
